RS 204 Final Exam Terms

Someone who uses specific criteria to evaluate reasoning, from positions, and make decisions.

A conclusion about an issue that is supported by reasons.

A position or conclusion taken about an issue, also called a claim or an opinion; in deductive reasoning, the inference drawn from the major and minjor premises.

Statements given to support conclusions (often called premises).

• There are three parts to an argument; conclusion, issue, and reasons.
• Critical thinkers first state there claim, then their issue, and details for there reasoning.

• Persuasion
• Explanation
• Discovery Analysis
• Recording inferences

Appeal to force.

• ex. "I'm sure you can support the proposal to diversify into the fast food industry
• because if I
• receive any opposition on this initiative, I will personally see that you are transferred to
• the janitorial division of this corporation."

Attacking the person. When a person is attacked on a personal quality that is irrelevant to the issue under discussion.

ex: the woman is not qualified for a position on city council because she is a homemaker

• Argument based on providing emotional excuses connected to extenuating circumstances to justify unacceptable bahavior.
• (argument from pity or misery).

• ex. Oh, Officer, There's no reason to give me a traffic ticket for going too fast because I was just on my
• way to the hospital to see my wife who is in serious condition to tell
• her I just lost my job and the car will be repossessed.

• [Appeal to newness]
• arguments are those in which an item's status as new automatically makes it better than other such items.

Appeal to the authority of "everyone." Based on the assumption that a course of action should be taken or an idea should be supported because "everyone" is doing it or believes it.

Appeal to authority.

Major premise. Preceding or prior to where a conclusion is derived.

• Poor me, poor you, poor them
• ex: you should go out with me because I'll be really upset if you dont

When something is supported because it's the way it's always been done; not looking for evidence to justify it.

Seeks to logically rule out various possibilities until only a single possibility remains.

Evidence used to support a warrant.

• When a speaker or writer assumes what needs to be proven. \
• ex. Have you stopped beating your wife yet?

Where members of one class are said to be included in another class. May be used as the major premised of a syllogism.

A statement or conclusion about an issue that is either true or false. The advocate for a claim will seek to prove the truth of the claim through evidence.

The position taken on the issue or argument.

Contains at least one hypothetical (if then) premise. Asserting if first part (antecedent) is true, then second part (consequent) is also true.

As an effect of result.

Structured in such a way as to give us a certainty about what is true in a given situation.

ex. Be careful of that wasp: it might sting. is based on the logic that wasps as a class have stingers; therefore each individual wasp will have a stinger. This conclusion is freeing in that we do not have to examine each and every wasp we ever encounter to ascertain what characteristics it may have

Putting a given situation into a conditional argument to see if the data is reliable or not.

If one possibility is true, then the other possibility is false.Either A or B.Not B.Therefore, A.

A belief system in which behavior is considered to be ethical when equal opportunities and consequences apply to all people.

A set of standards that determine what is right from wrong.

Teach new information; explain the why and how.

Comparison of one situation or idea to another that disregards significant differences that make the comparison invalid.

• [post hoc ergo propter hoc]
• Has no evidence of causation, just correlation that one event occurred after the other. No proof that event was caused by another event.
• ex. She didnt do well because she sat next to her classmate.

An argument based on establishing a limited set of options to choose from [usually 2] when many others exist.

ex. Either you are with the united states or your with the terrorists

Comparison of one situation or idea to another that disregards significant differences that make the comparison invalid.

ex. Apples and oranges.

Evidence that supports reasons and claims.

Corollary of Ad Hominem. Argument based on an opponent's repuation, the company he/she keeps, etc., rather than the issue at hand.

ex. "He's running for office? Well hell no, I won't be voting for him! He used to hang around with that group of hooligans on the corner. Nothing good ever came from them, so obviously he can't be worth a quarter.

Where a generalization is drawn from a small and thus inadequate sample of information.

• ex. Smith, who is from England, decides to attend graduate school at Ohio State University.
• He has never been to the US before. The day after he arrives, he is
• walking back from an orientation session and sees two white (albino)
• squirrels chasing each other around a tree. In his next letter home, he tells his family that American squirrels are white.

• Beliefs of a person that aren't directly stated; you can find hidden
• assumptions by closely examining what a person is saying and finding the underlying meaning of it. Where important assumptions are not made explicit.

• Ideal values what you believe is right and good.
• Real values is what you believe is right and good that act upon your life.

• Issue: what we are arguing about/the question being addressed.
• Topics:ideas or subjects
• -later becomes issues when a question or controversy is introduced.

A system in which the behavior of someone does not affect the freedom of others.

A categorical statement.

Expresses an instant of the principle set out in the major premise.

A valid conditional / hypothetical syllogism in which the antecedent is affirmed.

ex. If A, then B. A.Therefore, B.

Denying the consequent.

ex. If A, then B.Not B. Therefore, not A.

Doesnt make any sense, reason has nothing to do with conclusion